Sometimes it takes an expert’s eye to see something before everyone else does, such as Tyler Herro finishing No. 13 on the Player Rater, or Ivica Zubac putting up 16.8 PPG and 12.6 RPG, like each of them did last season.
How many people saw this coming?
If you did, you had a major leg up on the competition in your fantasy basketball leagues — that’s for sure!
With that in mind, we gathered our fantasy basketball experts — André Snellings, Eric Moody, Eric Karabell, Jim McCormick and Steve Alexander — and tasked them with detailing their boldest fantasy predictions for 2025-26.
Brandon Miller will finish in the top 40 on the Player Rater
Currently going 85th on average in ESPN live drafts, Miller’s coaching staff already trusts him to find his own shot, and his ability to create offense for others is only growing. With the potential to loft an absurd number of 3-pointers per game and his knack for amassing defensive numbers, he could follow the Trey Murphy III path to becoming a special 3-and-D fantasy wing as early as this season. Few players his size are this skilled at both slashing and shooting, making Miller an outlier at his position. — McCormick
Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard will both finish top 50 in fantasy points this season, and at least one of them will finish in the top 20
Embiid and Leonard are both ultra-elite fantasy hoops performers on a per-game basis that have a history of missing significant quantities of time. Last season, they missed a combined 108 of the possible 164 games. But I look for this season to be bounce-backs for both. Both are entering the season relatively healthy and all it would take is 60-65 games at their typical levels to reach these milestones. — Snellings
Four Celtics will finish among the top 10 in made 3-pointers this season, even with Tatum out
No team has attempted and made more 3-pointers than last season’s Boston Celtics, and that will hardly change just because star Jayson Tatum is out for most, if not the entirety, of the season. Four Celtics — Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Anfernee Simons and Sam Hauser — will finish among the top 10 in 3s made this season, while a fifth (leading scorer Jaylen Brown) will come close. — Karabell
Matas Buzelis will be a top-25 fantasy player
I foresee the Bulls starting him and giving him around 30 minutes per game, and his stat set is built for fantasy, hopefully providing blocks, steals, 3-pointers, rebounds and blocks. He’s being ignored until later in drafts after last season’s less-than-stellar numbers, but he has as much upside as almost any player in this year’s drafts. I’m trying to get him everywhere. — Alexander
LaMelo Ball plays more than 70 games
Ball has elite fantasy upside when he’s on the floor. Everyone knows that. He averaged 25.2 PPG, 7.4 APG, 4.9 RPG and 3.8 3-pointers last season, showing his all-around impact. The issue has always been health, with just 105 games played over the past three seasons. I think this is the season Ball plays more than 70 games. He is only 24, is fully recovered from ankle and wrist surgeries, and Charlotte’s added depth should help manage his workload. If he stays on the court, he has top-15 fantasy potential. — Moody
